William Bolcom

Bolcom's music is radically eclectic — a single work might draw on serialism, ragtime, rock, gospel, Broadway, and Romantic orchestration without a trace of irony or condescension. His harmonic language ranges from complex chromaticism to unapologetic diatonic warmth, depending on expressive need. His orchestration is vivid and theatrical, and his vocal writing — honed by decades of performing with his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris — has an unusual naturalness and wit.

Bolcom studied with Milhaud at Mills College and later with Messiaen in Paris, absorbing both French eclecticism and spiritual intensity. His passion for ragtime (he's a world-class rag pianist) connects him to the American vernacular tradition. His collaboration with Joan Morris in cabaret songs of the 1920s-40s made him a leading authority on American popular song. He taught at the University of Michigan for decades, influencing generations of young composers.

Bolcom's early works in the 1960s were modernist and experimental. His rediscovery of ragtime in the 1970s (he recorded the complete rags of Scott Joplin) opened up his embrace of American vernacular traditions. The 1980s-90s brought increasingly ambitious works — operas, symphonies, and the Blake songs. His late period continues to synthesize classical ambition with popular accessibility, most notably in his concertos and chamber music.

Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience — a setting of the complete William Blake cycle for soloists, choirs, children's choir, orchestra, rock band, and country-western ensemble — took him 25 years to compose and requires over 400 performers. Its 2004 premiere with Leonard Slatkin and the University of Michigan forces was a cathartic, overwhelming experience that won the Pulitzer Prize. It may be the most ambitious American vocal work since Ives's Universe Symphony.

Bolcom is one of the world's leading ragtime pianists — his recordings of the complete Joplin rags were landmark achievements that helped fuel the ragtime revival of the 1970s, and his own rags are genuine additions to the genre, not academic exercises.

Bolcom is well-known in American music circles but underperformed relative to his importance. The Blake songs are a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience when they're mounted. The Graceful Ghost Rag is his most famous single piece. His symphonies and concertos deserve more orchestral attention. He's ideal for programs exploring the porous boundary between classical and popular American music.